The Nose Slide : a bondage flute!

We, nose flute players, are used to face a very frequent comment : « With that thing on your nose, you look like Hannibal Lecter! ». Indeed, a bad noseflutist, too approximate with reaching the right tone, may easily transform into a serial killer for soft lambs : The look and the power...

Maikel Mei, the happy owner of the great silver flute we presented previously, sent us a new series of pictures which prove he fully deals with the frightening side of the nose flute.
He made a bondage installation on a shop window head, with a customized "Swan logo" and a « leather head dress with brass eyelets » made by himself. Let's call it a real "hand-free" nose flute!

« This head dress looks so much cooler and --if anything-- more 'real' than an elastic strap. It can be used in a very dramatic and theatrical way, including movement and dance. The outfit includes chains and handcuffs, creating a dark and gloomy 'Mad Max' atmosphere. The look combines bondage, sadomasochism and fetishism with restrained fugitive psychiatric patients ».


As you can see, the nose flute is not an original "Swan logo"; it has been improved.

« The head dress holds an improved 'swan logo' noseflute, which was created by Dutch flute builder Jelle Hogenhuis in February 1998. The concave air duct cover of the original plastic flute was replaced by a straight cover made from thick brass sheet. The much improved produced sound is channelled through two thick plastic strips on each side of the labium. It is the first significant breakthrough in my many attempts to improve the basic sound of the noseflute. This flute is the predecessor of the silver flute, which was built about 2 months later. »



But the improvement does not only increase the sound quality, it also adds some functionalities :

« The really interesting part is the addition on top: 2 solid brass stumps come out of the air duct cover and carry a mounted curved rail from solid brass. The idea is to be able to play the noseflute and slide (or tap) on an electric guitar simultaneously. Imagine the '70s parallel guitar solos... It originally was part of a mounted electric guitar over an electric keyboard, so as to be able to provide a 3-instrument sound, single-handedly and in real time. »

The "slide rail" gave its name to this improved flute : The Nose Slide.

« We soldered a brass tube --a genuine guitar 'slide'-- at first, but this rail proved to be far more accurate. Also, the rail does not obstruct your view while playing. Note that both ends of the rail have been rounded and polished, so that the edges do not interfere or slip away whilst sliding. »

Weird ? Absolutely! But quite an interesting piece of art!